basketball

The ladies got a big win. With a slow start (traililng 23-9 after the first quarter), they put things together in the 3rd quarter to even things up. With 7 seconds left in the 4th, Thome rebounded her own miss, and put it in for the one point victory 77-76.

So here we are at the Final Four. Villanova, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Syracuse(!?). There's one team every year that benefits from upsets to get an easy path and this year it's Syracuse. Raise your hand if you picked Syracuse to be in the Final Four.....<crickets>.

Anyways, as far as points and rankings in the MGoBlog group here is where the top 5 stands:

Rank - Bracket - Champion - PPR** - Total - PCT

1 - Ovaltine Jenkins - UNC - 640 - 920 - 99.8

2 - The Big Prince - Oklahoma - 480 - 890 - 99.5

3* - Angry Midget - UNC - 640 - 880 - 99.3

3* - Death to Drupal - UVA - 160 - 880 - 99.3

5* - smallfrey03 1 - UNC - 640 - 860 - 98.6

5* - ROLLLLLL TIIIIIIIDE - Kansas - 0 - 860 - 98.6

5* - ancisler 1 - Kansas - 0 - 860 - 98.6

* - tie breaker used

** - Possible Points Remaining

Lots of room for change at the top since many people picked Kansas and Michigan State to win the title. Roll Tide and Ancisler are in trouble since they do not have any possible points remaining. I'm just happy I'm on the first page and in contention for a top 10 finish!

We had 725 entries this year, up from 643 a year ago! Good luck to everyone that still has a shot at claiming a top spot and thank you to everyone that played along! I look forward to doing this again next year!

I found myself watching the Elite Eight matchup between Syracuse and Virginia last night. The longer the game went on, the more I found myself getting agitated with Reggie Miller. I kept thinking, this man wants Syracuse to win.

But, this led me to wonder...are in-game analysts biased or is it just in our heads?

I'm not talking about the guys who sit in studio, but those who are on the sidelines.

Reggie Miller probably wasn't "rooting" for Syracuse but it sure felt like he was. I wanted Virginia to win. Which, I think in turn made me develop some sort of weird angst towards the announcers not assuring me Virginia wasn't actually blowing a 15 point lead to a 10 seed.

This can be seen across other sports. Take, for instance, the Michigan-Indiana football game. It just seemed as though the announcers were pulling for an upset and disappointed when Michigan eventually prevailed.

When the analysts or announcers are confronted with the question of if they show a rooting interest during a game, they claim to be unbiased.

Filed under "so you're sayin' there's a chance", Beilein apparently checked with Josh Jackson's mom to see if there was any interest. That's about all there is to it at this point, but I was surprised that even happened.

Apparently Jackson was set to decide this past Thursday but pushed it back a week or so for some reason. Most folks think he's going to Kansas, with a few thinking he may go to Zona if Rawle Atkins doesn't, and MSU fans think he's going to MSU.